Ryley's Debut

Last week was the county fair which is held a few miles from our house.
We love it.  The food, the people, the events, the rain and mud, the whole experience is jammed pack with moments that are meant to become memories.
We had a fair budget of $100 which isn't much considering we planned on going several times and adult admission is $10 and child admission is $5.  We managed to make it there 4 times; JD and I had free passes every night we went and we only had to pay for the kids twice.  We also ate very little fair food.  We brought drinks and snacks from home as much as possible and only spent about $70 for the 4 days we went.  Not bad.

I worked at our school booth, Zeke went on rides, we watched tractor pulls (basically a huge family reunion),  and Ryley showed horses for the first time.

Friday was her big day.  JD took the day off from work and went to the fairgrounds early to help with the horses.  Ry spent the night at the fair in the horse trailer and was quite excited and anxious about her big day.

She showed in the draft horse show with my Aunt Lisi's horses, a Clydesdale cross named Willow and a Belgian named Macey.  The first class was a halter class with Willow.  Ryley was nervous but did great.  She is naturally shy but anything that has anything to do with horses tends to help her reach beyond her comfort zone.  She did great as the youngest child in the 13 and under class and placed 6th out of 8.

Later in the day, she drove Macey in the 13 and under cart class.  There were 12 kids in the class, most of them older than her.  She did great and placed 5th out of 12.  It was a great experience for her and I have no doubt that she'll only get better as she gains experience and confidence. 

Apparently not too many kids do more than one event and we were surprised to find out that she won Reserved Grand Champion for the 13 and under crew!

Chickens!

JD wanted chickens.
Reagen wanted chickens.
Jack wanted chickens.
Finn didn't care.
I was outnumbered.

We looked at chicken coops, new and used.  They're quite pricey.
We decided to turn part of our shed (used for storage before we built our garage) into a coop.
We already had the wire and 2x4s, so it was definitely within the budget.  The outdoor run cost a bit more as we decided to use a dog kennel and weren't able to find a decent one at a decent price on craigslist.  I like that the run can be used for a number of different things if it turns out that chicken farming isn't for us.

We've been working on this coop project off and on all summer and this weekend we finally go to the point that we were ready for hens.  A friend gave of 6 members of his flock:  three adult layers (2 Rhode Island Reds and 1 White Leghorn) and three "teenage" Rhode Island Reds which will begin laying in the fall.

On day 1, each of the adults laid and JD made the kids an omelet.
On day 2, we only got one egg.
On days 3-7, we got 1-2 eggs.
We've gotten 3 again for the past couple of days.

Apparently, they're not consistent with their egg laying.

Their names (thanks to Ryley) are Snow-Fire, Big Red, Redlight, and Flyer (which refers to any of the three younger ones as they all look alike).

Shed turned coop with guard dog Brodie.

Flyer (one of them anyway)

Snow-Fire

Redlight

FPU-July Review

What a month!  We've been busy with lots of little things:  hauling Ryley to Pony Camp, a weekend on Nantucket, sending big kids off on a camping trip, a couple of days on Lake Seymour, finishing up our chicken coop, a few days with AZ relatives, and lots of overtime for JD.

Financially, I was looking forward to this month, specifically JD's third paycheck at the end of the month.  Now that we're living with a monthly budget, those two months of the year when he gets a 3rd paycheck are huge (He gets paid bi-weekly; I'm paid twice monthly).  Thanks to that third check which wasn't needed for bills or anything else, we were able to put the whole thing towards our property taxes which we've been saving for since early summer.  And we met our goal!  In the past, we've been able to just set aside plow money for taxes.  This year we had to come up with over $6000 from nothing.  Thanks to FPU and the way that we've changed our spending habits, we did it!

We'll keep saving and hopefully pay off our first two loans (a personal loan and Ryley's orthodontics) early.  Without those payments, things will be a little easier going into winter when things tend to get tight.  At the same time, tuition payments and daycare will be starting up and if anything, our income will decrease.  I'm already looking forward to December when we'll get another 3rd check!

We had a little scare when something was going terribly wrong with our van and I could already envision a huge repair bill.  We were extremely thankful when we found out that even though it needed a new transmission (at only 55,000 miles) we only had to pay a $50 deductible as it was still under warranty.  Yay!

PS. I'm so glad that we got rid of our credit cards.  I thought I would miss my card and the perks, but after months now without it, I'm sure that the lack of a credit card bill every month definitely outweighs the perks.

Nantucket!

On Friday the 13th of July, we loaded up the van with luggage and kids at 4:00 a.m. and hit the road.  Destination: Nantucket, an island off the coast of Massachusetts and home to JD's sister and her family.

On the way, we got to see a mama moose and her baby up close.  We found out about three hours into the drive that we had a hitchhiker along for the ride, a good sized toad who had to be kicked out when he starting hopping around JD's feet as he was driving on a four-lane highway in Massachusetts.

"Mom!  There is a frog on my pillow pet!!!"

We bribed the kids with spending money and they were perfect angels the whole way there, with the exception of the little guy who was extremely tired by the time we boarded the ferry to the island and turned into a little monster for a bit.

Our time on Nantucket was perfect.  We had beautiful weather for beaches, quahogging, walking the historic streets of the town, getting ice-cream from the Juice Bar, and just hanging out.

Zeke loved hanging out with cousin Max

Everyone tried their hand at raking up quahogs.

A beautiful beach day

One last ice cream

On our return trip, we made a side trip to Ikea and got stuck in Boston traffic for too long for JD's liking, but eventually made it home.  Thanks to Jen & Peter and Max & Boone for opening their home (and vehicles) to us!

Crazy Days

I'm really failing in the blogging department these days, so here's a quick update on what the crew has been up to, and since I have a million things to do yet tonight, you'll have to envision things for yourselves because pictures aren't happening.   Hopefully I can catch up with those later.

We hosted a Fresh Air Child again this summer.  Last year went pretty well so we invited H back.  It went okay this time, but things didn't end on quite as happy a note as last year.  She just didn't seem as happy to be here and we had to put a lot of effort and energy in trying to make her time with us enjoyable.  I haven't decided about next year yet and if we'll invite her back.  Zeke is begging us to invite a boy next summer.

Our days have been crazy.  Yesterday was a good example.  I woke everyone up and brought Ryley to Pony Camp at 8.  The boys and I spent the morning at home and I accomplished the daunting task of cleaning our bedroom.  We had to pick Ry up at 12:30.  We were home for about 2 hours and then off to swimming lessons.  I then dropped the kids off at JD's mom's so that I could finish my mom's shift at our school resale shop.  I closed up there and raced back to get the kids and then we were off to Vacation Bible School.  The big kids stayed there and I took Quin and went for a walk in the scorching heat with Julia and JJ.  After VBS, JD met me to drop my van off to get the air conditioner fixed.  Then we had to go to pick up a work truck for him so that I could use his truck today.  It was after 9 by the time we got home.  The gardens still needed to be watered, kids put to bed, etc.  JD and I had tortilla chips and salsa grande for supper at about 10:30.  Bed time was close to 111:30 and JD had to be up early to get to work by 5.  Crazy days.

I love it though.  Ryley is loving Pony Camp, the kids are doing well with their first swimming lessons ever, VBS has been a hit, and although we miss JD in the evenings, I appreciate his work ethic.  

"I have all I've waited for and I could not ask for more."

We've got a fun weekend planned, and I promise I'll blog when it's over!

Beachin' It

Wednesday, the first official day of summer, and temperatures in the 90's, led to us hitting the beach.  We went to a VT state park, Branbury Beach, on the shore of Lake Dunmore.

Zeke and Dick are out on the kayak.

This little dude loved the beach.

Scuba Zeke

Dick trying to get Zeke soaked.

Thursday, temps in the 90s again, another beach?  Why not.  This time we headed to Lake George to a free town beach.  The kids didn't enjoy it as much as Dunmore, so we probably won't make the effort to get back to this one too often.  The sand was extremely hot and we had to remove several dead fish from the water :(  

"Hey Buddy."

We hit another VT state park on Friday, this one a little closer to home on the shores of Lake Champlain.  The temps weren't as high and the kids weren't as inclined to get in the water.  This park also lacked a beach so Quin wasn't a huge fan.  The grown ups liked it though.

I'm planning on visiting a state park that I've never been to later this week if the weather is decent; kind of excited about this one!

Camping Trip Numero Uno

On Monday night (last week) I hauled a van load of important camping stuff crap to our favorite campground.  We met JD's dad and step-mom there as they let us borrow their fabulous camper for the week.  And then we went home for a nice peaceful night of sleep.  On Tuesday, I loaded up van load number two and headed back to the campground in the afternoon.  It was raining.  Not a great start, but after setting up the awning, we were able to get ourselves situated and enjoy deal with the rain.  Julia and her family had scored big time by borrowing a ginormous fifth wheel from friends of theirs.  It was set up on the same site as ours and we used our second site for a play area for the kids and for cooking/fires as our campers were too close to the pit on our site.  Only 4 sites were even in use in our area of the campground for the first couple of nights, but by Friday night the place was packed.

Julia #2 (and 2 kids) joined Julia #1 (and 5 kids) and I for our last two nights.

We had four fabulous days of camping despite crying kids, scraped knees, bug bites, sunburn, etc.

Breakfast=Cold cereal

Hopefully at least one of these kids will no longer be in diapers next summer.

This playground was right next to our site and kept the little ones busy. 

Our setup.

A little boccee.

Youngest camper.

There you have it.